W-Madison technology that helped plants thrive in outer space has
landed in grocery stores, helping extend the freshness of fruit,
vegetables and flowers. Normally, these products are at the mercy of
ethylene, a natural hormone that causes them to prematurely wither and
spoil. But the new technology, developed by Professor Marc Anderson,
uses titanium dioxide as a catalyst to break ethylene into the
harmless byproducts of carbon dioxide and water vapor. This process
was originally used by the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics for a series of plant-growth experiments on the Space
Shuttle. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has patented
Anderson's technology, and the project received marketing assistance
from UW Technology Enterprise Cooperative. KES Irrigation Systems of Atlanta has now licensed it. The
firm markets a device called Bio-Kleen to grocery stores throughout
the country, including Copps in Madison. Since the device eliminates
ethylene rather than filtering it, there is virtually no maintenance
required. It is estimated that Bio-Kleen can increase the shelf-life
of produce and flowers by a week. Here, Anderson displays a cantaloupe
that has benefited from Bio-Kleen.

Study focuses on learning from landfills

Robert Ham believes well-designed landfills can be tools for recycling
rather than tombs that harbor trash for generations. As one of the
nation's leading landfill experts, the emeritus professor's latest
study has demonstrated that much garbage, under the right conditions,
moves quite nicely toward oblivion.

His six-year test involved burying mesh bags of garbage--everything
from diapers to lima beans--at landfills in three
states. Periodically, the bags were dug up so their contents could be
dried and weighed. Knowing how and what materials degrade is the first
step toward making landfills better "garbage-eating machines," says
Ham. Among his discoveries were that food, diapers and items with low
lignin contents decompose relatively quickly; most newspaper did not.

Using information from this study, Ham has started a new project to
design landfills of the future. In partnership with industry, he is
creating a full-scale demonstration that will promote degradation of
waste in landfills, forming methane gas for use as an energy
source. Some of the nation's landfills put out enough energy to
provide electricity for 10,000 homes, says Ham.

Guarding the nation's highways

Professor Lawrence Bank and his composite structures research team
have developed an innovative design for a guardrail that could make
life much simpler for highway workers and a lot safer for drivers. The
guardrail, made from glass fibers in a polymeric matrix, has several
key advantages over the ubiquitous steel variety, says Bank.

Its shape has been optimized to provide maximum impact absorption; it
doesn't corrode; it's 30-percent lighter, so workers can easily
install longer sections (reducing hourly labor costs and lane
closures); and it confines impact damage to a smaller area. Bank's
rail would also be mounted higher, providing extra protection for
taller autos such as sport utility vehicles. Composite guardrails
could prove particularly useful in Snowbelt states like Wisconsin,
where winter precipitation often means more accidents and more road
salt, explains Bank.

Together with graduate students Dave Merkes and Jason Smith, Bank is
testing prototypes of the composite guardrail. They hope to see test
sections of their innovation installed on the nation's highways in the
next few years.